Painted Lady Butterflies

One of our activities for our nature and conversation unit was raising Painted Lady butterflies.  I was able to order a kit online which sent us caterpillars ready to go in their own container with food.  There were teeny tiny at first, but we were absolutely blown away at the speed they grew!

 Within a couple of days, they doubled in size and it seemed like they never stopped eating.  Pretty soon they crawled to the top of their container and hung in the J-shape, waiting for the time to form their chrysalis.

Five of our caterpillars formed chrysalises, but one did not make it.  It hung in its J-shape, but never transformed beyond that.  

After several days of waiting our first butterfly emerged.  We were so surprised to see all the red pigment leak all over the bottom of the enclosure when the chrysalis opened.  This was the pigment responsible for the orange/red color on their wings.  The butterfly stayed very still on the side of the enclosure for many hours, waiting for its wings to dry.

Within a couple of days, all of the rest of the butterflies emerged.  We fed them a mixture of water and sugar in a shallow yogurt dish lined with cotton balls to protect them from falling in.  We also gave them fresh fruit, like watermelon and grapes.  It was amazing to see their proboscis slurp up the nectar.  

With the emerging of the last butterfly, we decided it was time to let them fly free.  They were tricky to coax out of their enclosure, but it was so fun launching them off into their new habitat.  

This was such a wonderful and educational experience that I hope it becomes an annual tradition.  We loved seeing the amazing metamorphosis happen right before our eyes!